As I plan my week’s activities I see that my life is broken up into a number of compartments, with work in one box, school in another, children’s activities in another, home life in another, family in another, community life in another, personal development in another. And in each of these boxes there are some smaller packages, for instance my work consists of various responsibilities and goals.
Breaking up my activities this way, helps me plan my time and gives me some key points to focus on. I am also aware that there are at least two important things to remember;
First, each compartment or box in my life affects each other. When I think about them in isolation problems usually arise. What I do with one affects the others. For instance, when I elect to take on more work it will affect how much time I can spend in the other boxes and it may affect my relationships in the other boxes.
Secondly, God weaves through every compartment or box in our lives. God is not a compartment of our life but He is involved and interested in all compartments of our lives. When we take the time we will notice that God is like a bottle of perfume that has leaked in our luggage, the aroma of God is in everything we are involved in. Our church activities and devotion times are essential compartments in our life, to help us discover how God is blessing us and involved in every part of our life. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 6 reminds us… There is one God who is the Father of all people. Not only is God above all others, but he works by using all of us, and he lives in all of us.
And not only is God in everything, of all things He is the most important. We should be thinking of Him and His perspective is in everything we are involved in. As 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 reminds us… When you eat, drink or do anything else, always do it to honour God.
Something to reflect on and share with others
• What activities of your life is it easy and difficult to see God involved in? and why?
• This week…What are you involved in?….How has God blessed you through these activities? How can you honour God in everything your are involved in?
• How does loving God and loving others affect the activities of your life?
Want to discover more…read Colossians 1:12-20
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sermon: Easter 3 Luke 24:36-49 Seeing Jesus
In today’s Gospel reading,
the resurrected Jesus appears to his disciples
but they do not recognise Him.
They have trouble believing what they see.
Reading from verse 36 we heard
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.
If Jesus was to walk through this door today what would you expect Him to look like?
Gleaming white.
Neatly dressed, without a crease or blemish.
Or perhaps looking straight out of 33ad…in his rags and sandals.
We develop images of Jesus and of God.
We expect Him to look and act in a certain way.
And it was the same for the disciples.
Things hadn’t turned out for them as they expected.
Their leader was killed,
they had heard reports of his resurrection but they had not seen Him.
Throughout His ministry Jesus had attempted to reveal to His disciples that He first needed to die
for His mission to be successful.
Yet that didn’t make sense to them.
Listen to what happened as Jesus was being arrested..
From Luke 22:49
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
And that was not the first time…
On numerous occasions throughout His ministry Jesus attempted to tell His disciples that He must suffer and die and that he will rise again.
In Matthew 16 there is an encounter between Him and Peter,
With Peter telling Him off for even suggesting such a thing.
And now he arrives as the resurrected one
With scars
So what about you?
Does Jesus live up to your expectations?
Does God act and appear how you expect?
Many people have expectations of Jesus…
More comfortable, richer, perfect unity
But is that what Scripture says Jesus is like and will do.
But if we really want to see and understand Jesus we need to first look at scripture
This is what he told the disciples reading from Luke 24 verse 44
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
When he said that everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law, Prophets and Psalms
He is referring to the Jewish Bible, what we know as the Old Testament.
Jesus is emphasising that in order to understand how God operates and His purposes we need to look at scripture.
And that scriptures most important purpose is to emphasise Jesus and what He will do.
In other words scripture acts as a letter to us as to how we can identify Jesus.
And so what does scripture say about Jesus.
First of all He comes in peace.
Peace be with you
This is a typical Jewish Greeting
But also a greeting used frequently by God.
At times God uses when people experiencing God are likely to be afraid
In Judges 6 verse 23 the Lord says to Gideon, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
And in Luke 2 when the angels appeared to Jesus they said so not be afraid, he brings peace to whom His favour rests
One of the identifying marks of Jesus is that He brings peace
This doesn’t mean at times we will feel uncomfortable with Jesus
Remember he also told us he was giving us peace that was different to what this world offers.
When Jesus speaks to us, at times it is not comfortable.
He will confront us where our lives are not consistent with God and His ways.
He will highlight where we are out of alignment with God.
When I drive my car and the steering is a lit rough I know the wheels need realignment.
Likewise when I open scripture and Jesus speaks to me
and I feel uncomfortable I know my life needs some adjustment.
Helping us identify where we are out of alignment with God is the start of Jesus bringing peace into our lives.
And he also does two things for us to rectify the problem.
To give us peace.
One he fixes up the damage being out of aligned with God has caused.
And secondly he gives us guidance and help to change, to remain in alignment with God.
The second identifying mark of Jesus that is highlighted through the scriptures is that through suffering and rising.
Jesus fulfilled the scriptures.
God had revealed this is how the Messiah would achieve victory over Satan even in the Old Testament.
In numerous places in the Old Testament God reveals that the one who will save His people will suffer, take for instance Isaiah 53.
Yet it wasn’t until it occurred that this became clear to others.
People couldn’t comprehend that this is how God works.
How could dieing bring victory?
But that is exactly the plan of God.
Jesus suffering, dieing and rising was God’s plan to defeat Satan and bring salvation to the entire world.
And this identifies the third identifying mark about Jesus.
that His main purpose is to bring repentance and forgiveness.
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The reason for his suffering, death and resurrection was that repentance and forgiveness was possible for you and me.
We should never lose sight of this.
That for every Christian the number one thing they should be focused on is repentance and forgiveness.
Are you?
Are you eager to expose your life to God’s word
and allow Him to redirect you where you are out of alignment?
And are you willing to accept that you can’t rectify the problems between you and God without Jesus’ forgiveness?
Both repentance and forgiveness are essential.
Repentance is recognizing you are out of alignment with God and being realigned to His ways.
Forgiveness is dealing with the damage this realignment has caused.
Both require God to be active.
They should not be separated.
A life without repentance is simply thumbing your nose at God.
And a life without forgiveness is living in hell.
Jesus died so repentance and forgiveness is possible for you.
And the forth identifying mark of Jesus
Is that we are His witnesses.
He uses us to bring his message of peace, repentance and forgiveness
Reading from verse 48
48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
For some peculiar reason God has chosen you and me to be His witnesses…
To represent Him to your family, workmates and friends.
This is not an option.
Now we can be good or bad witnesses.
A good witness relies on God’s power, that’s what Jesus asked the disciples to do.
And God’s power for us comes through His scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
This is why it is so important to be constantly attending worship services and to be frequently reading the bible.
These are two foundational practices in your life to being in touch with God.
And a good witness reflects who Jesus truly is.
That Jesus is concerned both about repentance and forgiveness.
And this is our challenge…
Of how to be witnesses to both in the various situations we are experiencing.
The starting point needs to be ourselves.
Are you exposing your life to the bible?
If not begin.
Do you recognise which areas of your life are not in alignment with God?
Are you seeking help in these areas?
And do you also recognise that God forgives you!
Do you understand what it means to be forgiven!!
Being a witness does not mean you need to be perfect, with no flaws.
Being a witness means reflecting what Jesus is doing in your life.
Highlighting what he has done, what he is doing and will do.
That Jesus is on about both repentance and forgiveness.
This is how the scriptures portray who Jesus is.
Both these bring change to our lives now and in the future.
My story….recognising that forgiveness is more than sorry!!!
This week
Look for opportunities to reveal to people that Jesus is on about both repentance and forgiveness..Amen
the resurrected Jesus appears to his disciples
but they do not recognise Him.
They have trouble believing what they see.
Reading from verse 36 we heard
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.
If Jesus was to walk through this door today what would you expect Him to look like?
Gleaming white.
Neatly dressed, without a crease or blemish.
Or perhaps looking straight out of 33ad…in his rags and sandals.
We develop images of Jesus and of God.
We expect Him to look and act in a certain way.
And it was the same for the disciples.
Things hadn’t turned out for them as they expected.
Their leader was killed,
they had heard reports of his resurrection but they had not seen Him.
Throughout His ministry Jesus had attempted to reveal to His disciples that He first needed to die
for His mission to be successful.
Yet that didn’t make sense to them.
Listen to what happened as Jesus was being arrested..
From Luke 22:49
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
And that was not the first time…
On numerous occasions throughout His ministry Jesus attempted to tell His disciples that He must suffer and die and that he will rise again.
In Matthew 16 there is an encounter between Him and Peter,
With Peter telling Him off for even suggesting such a thing.
And now he arrives as the resurrected one
With scars
So what about you?
Does Jesus live up to your expectations?
Does God act and appear how you expect?
Many people have expectations of Jesus…
More comfortable, richer, perfect unity
But is that what Scripture says Jesus is like and will do.
But if we really want to see and understand Jesus we need to first look at scripture
This is what he told the disciples reading from Luke 24 verse 44
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
When he said that everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law, Prophets and Psalms
He is referring to the Jewish Bible, what we know as the Old Testament.
Jesus is emphasising that in order to understand how God operates and His purposes we need to look at scripture.
And that scriptures most important purpose is to emphasise Jesus and what He will do.
In other words scripture acts as a letter to us as to how we can identify Jesus.
And so what does scripture say about Jesus.
First of all He comes in peace.
Peace be with you
This is a typical Jewish Greeting
But also a greeting used frequently by God.
At times God uses when people experiencing God are likely to be afraid
In Judges 6 verse 23 the Lord says to Gideon, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
And in Luke 2 when the angels appeared to Jesus they said so not be afraid, he brings peace to whom His favour rests
One of the identifying marks of Jesus is that He brings peace
This doesn’t mean at times we will feel uncomfortable with Jesus
Remember he also told us he was giving us peace that was different to what this world offers.
When Jesus speaks to us, at times it is not comfortable.
He will confront us where our lives are not consistent with God and His ways.
He will highlight where we are out of alignment with God.
When I drive my car and the steering is a lit rough I know the wheels need realignment.
Likewise when I open scripture and Jesus speaks to me
and I feel uncomfortable I know my life needs some adjustment.
Helping us identify where we are out of alignment with God is the start of Jesus bringing peace into our lives.
And he also does two things for us to rectify the problem.
To give us peace.
One he fixes up the damage being out of aligned with God has caused.
And secondly he gives us guidance and help to change, to remain in alignment with God.
The second identifying mark of Jesus that is highlighted through the scriptures is that through suffering and rising.
Jesus fulfilled the scriptures.
God had revealed this is how the Messiah would achieve victory over Satan even in the Old Testament.
In numerous places in the Old Testament God reveals that the one who will save His people will suffer, take for instance Isaiah 53.
Yet it wasn’t until it occurred that this became clear to others.
People couldn’t comprehend that this is how God works.
How could dieing bring victory?
But that is exactly the plan of God.
Jesus suffering, dieing and rising was God’s plan to defeat Satan and bring salvation to the entire world.
And this identifies the third identifying mark about Jesus.
that His main purpose is to bring repentance and forgiveness.
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The reason for his suffering, death and resurrection was that repentance and forgiveness was possible for you and me.
We should never lose sight of this.
That for every Christian the number one thing they should be focused on is repentance and forgiveness.
Are you?
Are you eager to expose your life to God’s word
and allow Him to redirect you where you are out of alignment?
And are you willing to accept that you can’t rectify the problems between you and God without Jesus’ forgiveness?
Both repentance and forgiveness are essential.
Repentance is recognizing you are out of alignment with God and being realigned to His ways.
Forgiveness is dealing with the damage this realignment has caused.
Both require God to be active.
They should not be separated.
A life without repentance is simply thumbing your nose at God.
And a life without forgiveness is living in hell.
Jesus died so repentance and forgiveness is possible for you.
And the forth identifying mark of Jesus
Is that we are His witnesses.
He uses us to bring his message of peace, repentance and forgiveness
Reading from verse 48
48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
For some peculiar reason God has chosen you and me to be His witnesses…
To represent Him to your family, workmates and friends.
This is not an option.
Now we can be good or bad witnesses.
A good witness relies on God’s power, that’s what Jesus asked the disciples to do.
And God’s power for us comes through His scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
This is why it is so important to be constantly attending worship services and to be frequently reading the bible.
These are two foundational practices in your life to being in touch with God.
And a good witness reflects who Jesus truly is.
That Jesus is concerned both about repentance and forgiveness.
And this is our challenge…
Of how to be witnesses to both in the various situations we are experiencing.
The starting point needs to be ourselves.
Are you exposing your life to the bible?
If not begin.
Do you recognise which areas of your life are not in alignment with God?
Are you seeking help in these areas?
And do you also recognise that God forgives you!
Do you understand what it means to be forgiven!!
Being a witness does not mean you need to be perfect, with no flaws.
Being a witness means reflecting what Jesus is doing in your life.
Highlighting what he has done, what he is doing and will do.
That Jesus is on about both repentance and forgiveness.
This is how the scriptures portray who Jesus is.
Both these bring change to our lives now and in the future.
My story….recognising that forgiveness is more than sorry!!!
This week
Look for opportunities to reveal to people that Jesus is on about both repentance and forgiveness..Amen
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The essentials for life: Loving God and loving others
Our lives are full of a lot of stuff….school, hobbies, sport, work, church, careers, study, earning money, paying bills, finding work plus a truckload of other things. To check out what fills up your life look at your calendar or diary and bank accounts or credit card statements.
Now because God has made us all different we are involved in different things and have different likes…our lives will be filled with different activities, things and people. For instance at school some find maths exciting, others English, some love sport, some music, some reading and some drama. With all these differences, what an exciting mural God has created of life. What would life be if everyone liked the same things? Image if everyone followed Collingwood Football Club now that would be a strange God…
And our differences extend to how we relate to Jesus. In his book Sacred Pathways Gary Thomas highlights this; for instance some of people are wired to need routine, whilst others need quietness, others need to be very active, others relate better to Jesus when they are able to use their range of senses, others when they are confronting what is wrong and others when they are outside. (If you would like to discover more about the different ways of relating to Jesus, feel free to contact me.)
Now the challenge for us is how to live together with our differences. Fortunately, when people were trying to work out what was important Jesus highlighted that the key to living with others was to realise that everything we are involved in needs to be in harmony with loving God and loving others. There is no exception. These are the Greatest Commandments. Open your bibles to Mark 12:28-34 to discover more. No matter what we are doing, we should consider how we can love God and love others.
Some things to think about and share as a family
· When have you experienced someone loving God and loving others?
· How does loving God and loving others change how you do things and relate to others?
· In what areas of your life do you find it easy to love God and love others?
· And in what areas of your life do you find it a challenge to love God and love others? (ask God for help!!)
Throughout this term we will be exploring living a life of loving God and loving others in chapel, please join us if you can, ask your children and grandchildren what they have discovered
Now because God has made us all different we are involved in different things and have different likes…our lives will be filled with different activities, things and people. For instance at school some find maths exciting, others English, some love sport, some music, some reading and some drama. With all these differences, what an exciting mural God has created of life. What would life be if everyone liked the same things? Image if everyone followed Collingwood Football Club now that would be a strange God…
And our differences extend to how we relate to Jesus. In his book Sacred Pathways Gary Thomas highlights this; for instance some of people are wired to need routine, whilst others need quietness, others need to be very active, others relate better to Jesus when they are able to use their range of senses, others when they are confronting what is wrong and others when they are outside. (If you would like to discover more about the different ways of relating to Jesus, feel free to contact me.)
Now the challenge for us is how to live together with our differences. Fortunately, when people were trying to work out what was important Jesus highlighted that the key to living with others was to realise that everything we are involved in needs to be in harmony with loving God and loving others. There is no exception. These are the Greatest Commandments. Open your bibles to Mark 12:28-34 to discover more. No matter what we are doing, we should consider how we can love God and love others.
Some things to think about and share as a family
· When have you experienced someone loving God and loving others?
· How does loving God and loving others change how you do things and relate to others?
· In what areas of your life do you find it easy to love God and love others?
· And in what areas of your life do you find it a challenge to love God and love others? (ask God for help!!)
Throughout this term we will be exploring living a life of loving God and loving others in chapel, please join us if you can, ask your children and grandchildren what they have discovered
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter Sunday Sermon: Allow God to deal with the boulders in your life...He loves you!!
New things in our life changes a lot of things.
Anyone ever had a new baby in their life?
Do you remember the changes that it meant?
What about a new home or a new school?
Or perhaps a new boyfriend or girl friend?
New things bring changes to our lives.
And Christ’s resurrection changes things, it changes our life
It changes the way God relates to us!!!
And it changes how we view God?
Some of you know a song that goes like this:
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do….
For the Father up is looking down in love…
Be careful little hands what you do
Unfortunately many people don’t view God this way.
They live and sing the song like this is
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do….
For the Father up is looking down in love…
Be careful little hands what you do
But that is not the God who comes to us at Easter…
God came to us to shower us in love.
To understand Easter.
You need to understand Jesus’ mission.
And His is mission,
His entire reason for walking this earth,
For suffering
For hanging from the cross
And for rising again is very clearly spelt out in John 3:16-17.
I invite you to listen to his mission
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
This message changes our life.
And it changes the life of many people.
Did anyone read the story of Anna Nobilli in the newspaper this weekend.
Anna Nobilli for 18 years was an exotic dancer,
However after visiting a religious place and hearing the message that no matter who she is God loves her,
Her life changed.
She did one more exotic dance then followed Jesus and is now a nun in an order that seeks to bring God’s love to people in many different situations.
She is dancing for the Lord.
Jesus’ resurrection not only demonstrates that he wants to love you.
It confirms that He actually loves you and that as part of Him loving you he is giving you the key to eternity.
His death and resurrection means coming your way is the gift of eternal life.
That is what Easter is all about…
God saying if you trust me, to deal with sin you will have life.
God saying to you there is not one sin that can prevent you from spending eternity with me
God wants to give you that gift
And so the question is will you accept it?
If I was to toss out a bucket full of easter eggs this morning and no one picked them up then no one would benefit from them.
To enjoy their sweetness you would need to grab them.
Likewise to enjoy God’s love we need to grab hold of it.
And there lies the problem for many people….
There is a big boulder between them and God.
They find it difficult to accept God’s gift of forgiveness and new life.
Maybe at times you do to.
Maybe you have done something in the past that you know is wrong and you are not quite sure if God really forgives you.
You don’t feel good enough.
Well that’s not a new problem.
In the Luther movie, the story of Martin Luther experienced this early in his life.
He would even go to the extent of making up sins because he was sure he had committed them
In the end his advice is to stopping dwelling so much on his sins and start dwelling more and more on God’s grace
Can I say to you if that is you?
God forgives you!!
Jesus died and rose for you.
But this is not the only boulder that gets in between us and God.
There are also other things that are boulders
Things that get in the road of us having a relationship with Jesus.
Think about what are the boulders in your life?
What are the boulders that exist between you and God…
Maybe they are past hurts….
Perhaps it is the whole question, why does God allow the supposedly innocent people to suffer.
Perhaps there is something in your life that you think or you know you may have to give up to have integrity in following God.
Maybe it could be as simple as your life at present is making it very difficult to develop a relationship with God…like you’re a mother with kids and you keep coming to church but you feel you spend more time dealing with your children than God, maybe its sport or work, perhaps you have a non believing partner or is there something else that prevents you from regularly being in touch with God.
Perhaps you believe everyone should relate to and worship God in the way you do. If that is the case can I recommend to you a book called Spiritual pathways…by Gary Thomas
It could be you believe God should be acting in a certain way, and He is not…
Throughout our lives all of us will have some sort of boulders in our life that get in the way of us relating to God.
And the truth is we need God’s help for them to be removed and dealt with.
Throughout our lives we constantly need God’s to be in constant contact with Him.
When the boulders are removed we get to experience the gift of life from Jesus.
But for the boulders to be removed it requires greater strength that what we have alone.
Now this doesn’t mean we necessarily sit back and do nothing…
There are three things that you can do so that you are more open to God helping you.
The first is Pray: In Philippians 4:6 God says to us
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Whenever we are faced with a boulder…pray about it.
Bring it before God in prayer and then listen for his answers….
The second thing is regular bible reading and study.
One of the biggest problems is we all have our own opinions on how things should be.
Some of these are not influenced at all by God
And to understand and gain God’s perspective on life,
on how God sees life now and in the future
it is a pretty good idea to listen to him.
And listening to him involves bible reading and study.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.
In other words the scriptures reveal what God is on about and where we are going.
Eugene Peterson the editor of the Message Bible once said
Following Jesus doesn't get us where we want to go.
It gets us to where Jesus goes, where we meet him in Resurrection surprise: "My Lord and my God!"As we read and study the scriptures we begin to see how God sees life to be.
If you are not already part of a small group…Join one…
put a note in my pigeon hole that you want to be contacted about bible study…
The third thing we can do to be more open to God helping us is to constantly seek counsel for our situation and the boulders in your path.
Now did you notice not all the boulders that exist between us and God are necessarily sins.
But they can create problems unless they are dealt with.
In Proverbs 15 verse 22 God reminds us
22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
The reality is God works through His church.
He works through other Christians, our staff, leaders and each other.
When you see a boulder in your life between you and God seek help.
Take the initiative to talk to myself, our staff or other Christians.
Leaders there is also something we need to be aware of when it comes to boulders in the lives of people.
We have a special responsibility to help people with their boulders.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus says
“Let the children come to me…do not hinder them for such belongs the kingdom of God.”
And this was said the to the leaders around Jesus at the time and it is said to us.
If you are a leader in this congregation one of your callings is to allow God to use you to be part of His team in removing the unscriptural obstacles that are getting in people’s roads of having a relationship with God.
You are called to be obstacle removers not obstacle enforcers or encouragers.
Leaders look for opportunities to remove obstacles in the path of people experiencing a relationship with God.
Did you notice something in the Gospel reading this morning
when the women got to the tomb and the boulder was removed
But it wasn’t as they expected.
They were expecting a dead Jesus.
A Jesus they could preserve with their spices.
But He as not there and they were told he had risen.
Now you think they would be excited but they panicked
Listen again to what happened
Reading from Mark 16:4
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
At times we love confining God to our understanding.
We expect God to be exactly where we want him.
to how we understand things…
The truth is there are many mysteries about God.
Some which we will never explain on this earth.
There are many things we can never understand.
The woman thought Jesus was going to be dead .
They wanted to preserve him in beautiful spices.
But instead he did what the prophets had said he would do.
He did what he said he would do.
Before he died Jesus mentioned on numerous occasions that he would die and then rise again three days later…
Listen to what he said in Mark 8 verse 31
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
However the women were not expecting this.
So they panicked.
And there is also a hint in the reading that the disciples had probably given up on Jesus.
In verse 7 it says that Jesus had gone on ahead of them to Galilee.
Now do you know how far Galilee was from the tomb
It wasn’t just the next suburb from where the tomb was.
It was around 109 km away…
Now that is roughly the distance between here and Mt Gambier…
And why was he going to Galilee?
Well that is where around half the disciples were from.
And following Jesus death they had returned home.
In other parts of scripture we know that some of them returned to their previous occupations as fishermen.
They had given up on Jesus.
But Jesus still goes after them
Goes after them to shower them with His love.
And when anyone deserts God.
Jesus will still comes after us.
Not to punish us but to love us…
To put his mission back in our lives….to save us.
That is part of my story…
I was baptised, went to Sunday School, confirmation then slowly drifted from the church.
I didn’t see what God could offer me.
I had given up on him.
But God through his church and family persisted…
Constantly dropping His love into my life.
Now finally the interesting thing about this morning’s reading is that the women didn’t do what they were told.
They were told to tell others that Jesus was risen but they didn’t.
But that didn’t stop Jesus.
It didn’t stop the Good News of Jesus resurrection getting out….
How do you think we know about it?
Because others did.
As we heard in Acts other people shared the message that Jesus died and rose from the dead
and as a result that everyone who believes in him has forgiveness for their sins.
Come on lets be part of His church that continues sharing this message.
Have the courage to talk to bring God’s love into your conversations.
Some of you will be eating today with people who are not too sure of this message,
or even sure what Easter is about.
Why not say today we are celebrating that God forgives us and loves us no matter who we are or what we have done…
Today we are celebrating that God forgives us and loves us no matter who we are or what we have done….
To finish off I would like to share with you a story I came across about a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa.
“Some of his friends asked him,
‘Why have you become a Christian?’
He answered, ‘Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions,
and you didn’t know which way to go,
and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask which way to go?’“
Come follow Jesus the living God…
He is offering you life now and in eternity. AMEN
Anyone ever had a new baby in their life?
Do you remember the changes that it meant?
What about a new home or a new school?
Or perhaps a new boyfriend or girl friend?
New things bring changes to our lives.
And Christ’s resurrection changes things, it changes our life
It changes the way God relates to us!!!
And it changes how we view God?
Some of you know a song that goes like this:
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do….
For the Father up is looking down in love…
Be careful little hands what you do
Unfortunately many people don’t view God this way.
They live and sing the song like this is
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do….
For the Father up is looking down in love…
Be careful little hands what you do
But that is not the God who comes to us at Easter…
God came to us to shower us in love.
To understand Easter.
You need to understand Jesus’ mission.
And His is mission,
His entire reason for walking this earth,
For suffering
For hanging from the cross
And for rising again is very clearly spelt out in John 3:16-17.
I invite you to listen to his mission
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
This message changes our life.
And it changes the life of many people.
Did anyone read the story of Anna Nobilli in the newspaper this weekend.
Anna Nobilli for 18 years was an exotic dancer,
However after visiting a religious place and hearing the message that no matter who she is God loves her,
Her life changed.
She did one more exotic dance then followed Jesus and is now a nun in an order that seeks to bring God’s love to people in many different situations.
She is dancing for the Lord.
Jesus’ resurrection not only demonstrates that he wants to love you.
It confirms that He actually loves you and that as part of Him loving you he is giving you the key to eternity.
His death and resurrection means coming your way is the gift of eternal life.
That is what Easter is all about…
God saying if you trust me, to deal with sin you will have life.
God saying to you there is not one sin that can prevent you from spending eternity with me
God wants to give you that gift
And so the question is will you accept it?
If I was to toss out a bucket full of easter eggs this morning and no one picked them up then no one would benefit from them.
To enjoy their sweetness you would need to grab them.
Likewise to enjoy God’s love we need to grab hold of it.
And there lies the problem for many people….
There is a big boulder between them and God.
They find it difficult to accept God’s gift of forgiveness and new life.
Maybe at times you do to.
Maybe you have done something in the past that you know is wrong and you are not quite sure if God really forgives you.
You don’t feel good enough.
Well that’s not a new problem.
In the Luther movie, the story of Martin Luther experienced this early in his life.
He would even go to the extent of making up sins because he was sure he had committed them
In the end his advice is to stopping dwelling so much on his sins and start dwelling more and more on God’s grace
Can I say to you if that is you?
God forgives you!!
Jesus died and rose for you.
But this is not the only boulder that gets in between us and God.
There are also other things that are boulders
Things that get in the road of us having a relationship with Jesus.
Think about what are the boulders in your life?
What are the boulders that exist between you and God…
Maybe they are past hurts….
Perhaps it is the whole question, why does God allow the supposedly innocent people to suffer.
Perhaps there is something in your life that you think or you know you may have to give up to have integrity in following God.
Maybe it could be as simple as your life at present is making it very difficult to develop a relationship with God…like you’re a mother with kids and you keep coming to church but you feel you spend more time dealing with your children than God, maybe its sport or work, perhaps you have a non believing partner or is there something else that prevents you from regularly being in touch with God.
Perhaps you believe everyone should relate to and worship God in the way you do. If that is the case can I recommend to you a book called Spiritual pathways…by Gary Thomas
It could be you believe God should be acting in a certain way, and He is not…
Throughout our lives all of us will have some sort of boulders in our life that get in the way of us relating to God.
And the truth is we need God’s help for them to be removed and dealt with.
Throughout our lives we constantly need God’s to be in constant contact with Him.
When the boulders are removed we get to experience the gift of life from Jesus.
But for the boulders to be removed it requires greater strength that what we have alone.
Now this doesn’t mean we necessarily sit back and do nothing…
There are three things that you can do so that you are more open to God helping you.
The first is Pray: In Philippians 4:6 God says to us
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Whenever we are faced with a boulder…pray about it.
Bring it before God in prayer and then listen for his answers….
The second thing is regular bible reading and study.
One of the biggest problems is we all have our own opinions on how things should be.
Some of these are not influenced at all by God
And to understand and gain God’s perspective on life,
on how God sees life now and in the future
it is a pretty good idea to listen to him.
And listening to him involves bible reading and study.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.
In other words the scriptures reveal what God is on about and where we are going.
Eugene Peterson the editor of the Message Bible once said
Following Jesus doesn't get us where we want to go.
It gets us to where Jesus goes, where we meet him in Resurrection surprise: "My Lord and my God!"As we read and study the scriptures we begin to see how God sees life to be.
If you are not already part of a small group…Join one…
put a note in my pigeon hole that you want to be contacted about bible study…
The third thing we can do to be more open to God helping us is to constantly seek counsel for our situation and the boulders in your path.
Now did you notice not all the boulders that exist between us and God are necessarily sins.
But they can create problems unless they are dealt with.
In Proverbs 15 verse 22 God reminds us
22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
The reality is God works through His church.
He works through other Christians, our staff, leaders and each other.
When you see a boulder in your life between you and God seek help.
Take the initiative to talk to myself, our staff or other Christians.
Leaders there is also something we need to be aware of when it comes to boulders in the lives of people.
We have a special responsibility to help people with their boulders.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus says
“Let the children come to me…do not hinder them for such belongs the kingdom of God.”
And this was said the to the leaders around Jesus at the time and it is said to us.
If you are a leader in this congregation one of your callings is to allow God to use you to be part of His team in removing the unscriptural obstacles that are getting in people’s roads of having a relationship with God.
You are called to be obstacle removers not obstacle enforcers or encouragers.
Leaders look for opportunities to remove obstacles in the path of people experiencing a relationship with God.
Did you notice something in the Gospel reading this morning
when the women got to the tomb and the boulder was removed
But it wasn’t as they expected.
They were expecting a dead Jesus.
A Jesus they could preserve with their spices.
But He as not there and they were told he had risen.
Now you think they would be excited but they panicked
Listen again to what happened
Reading from Mark 16:4
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
At times we love confining God to our understanding.
We expect God to be exactly where we want him.
to how we understand things…
The truth is there are many mysteries about God.
Some which we will never explain on this earth.
There are many things we can never understand.
The woman thought Jesus was going to be dead .
They wanted to preserve him in beautiful spices.
But instead he did what the prophets had said he would do.
He did what he said he would do.
Before he died Jesus mentioned on numerous occasions that he would die and then rise again three days later…
Listen to what he said in Mark 8 verse 31
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
However the women were not expecting this.
So they panicked.
And there is also a hint in the reading that the disciples had probably given up on Jesus.
In verse 7 it says that Jesus had gone on ahead of them to Galilee.
Now do you know how far Galilee was from the tomb
It wasn’t just the next suburb from where the tomb was.
It was around 109 km away…
Now that is roughly the distance between here and Mt Gambier…
And why was he going to Galilee?
Well that is where around half the disciples were from.
And following Jesus death they had returned home.
In other parts of scripture we know that some of them returned to their previous occupations as fishermen.
They had given up on Jesus.
But Jesus still goes after them
Goes after them to shower them with His love.
And when anyone deserts God.
Jesus will still comes after us.
Not to punish us but to love us…
To put his mission back in our lives….to save us.
That is part of my story…
I was baptised, went to Sunday School, confirmation then slowly drifted from the church.
I didn’t see what God could offer me.
I had given up on him.
But God through his church and family persisted…
Constantly dropping His love into my life.
Now finally the interesting thing about this morning’s reading is that the women didn’t do what they were told.
They were told to tell others that Jesus was risen but they didn’t.
But that didn’t stop Jesus.
It didn’t stop the Good News of Jesus resurrection getting out….
How do you think we know about it?
Because others did.
As we heard in Acts other people shared the message that Jesus died and rose from the dead
and as a result that everyone who believes in him has forgiveness for their sins.
Come on lets be part of His church that continues sharing this message.
Have the courage to talk to bring God’s love into your conversations.
Some of you will be eating today with people who are not too sure of this message,
or even sure what Easter is about.
Why not say today we are celebrating that God forgives us and loves us no matter who we are or what we have done…
Today we are celebrating that God forgives us and loves us no matter who we are or what we have done….
To finish off I would like to share with you a story I came across about a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa.
“Some of his friends asked him,
‘Why have you become a Christian?’
He answered, ‘Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions,
and you didn’t know which way to go,
and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask which way to go?’“
Come follow Jesus the living God…
He is offering you life now and in eternity. AMEN
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sermon: Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 Sensing and receiving God's peace
Could I get an indication of who here desires conflict, fighting, feeling uneasy?
(What no one? I thought there would be one or two)
Most people desire peace.
Having God’s peace in our hearts is something God wants all of us to have.
Listen to Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
In other words peace should dominate our lives.
Peace should dominate the way you live.
And so what is your image of peace?
Close your eyes for a moment.
And think about what is peaceful for you.
Maybe it is a beach with a moderate temperature with the waves gently rolling in.
Sun not too hot and the wind not too cold.
Perhaps it is a quiet bush walk.
Or time alone in front of a log fire with a warm coffee and a good book and calming music.
Or knowing exactly what is going to happen next.
Maybe it is simply no conflict.
What else are you thinking about?
Now these are all great images of peace.
And when we experience them we should thank God for those experiences.
It is God who gives us everything good in our lives.
But when the scriptures talks about peace
When God talks about bringing peace that is not what He is referring to.
In John 14 verse 27 Jesus says very clearly to us
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Today’s readings give us an insight to what God is talking about when he is talking about peace.
Imagine being part of a group of people who are oppressed.
Who are on the outer.
A bit like a Collingwood Football Club supporter.
People who have a foreign ruler,
with strange ideas and understanding of life.
Some of which conflict to your own values.
That is the situation the Jews of Jesus time and many years before were facing.
The Romans are ruling them.
The Roman leaders expect to be seen and treated as gods.
They live and encourage living that is not only in conflict to God’s approach to life, but is even offensive.
They have little respect for the God of the Jews.
So no wonder the Jewish people had been holding out for a leader to put them in power.
They are waiting for a Messiah.
Someone to save them.
Someone to take them from being oppressed to being respected.
Ever felt like that?
Ever felt oppressed or slightly on the outer.
As Christians we should.
In 1 Peter 2 verse 11 we are reminded that we are foreigners and strangers in this world.
Thing will constantly pop up that are not consistent with the Christian life.
And when God’s values conflict with how society believes things to be then we are being oppressed.
When you feel you can’t mention God in certain situations then you are being oppressed.
In some circles this is changing…
Some major surveys show many young people are open to talking about and exploring Jesus and spirituality.
But they also have conditions.
In short this means in our discussions with people under 45, we need to focus on Jesus.
As Christians though we should not be surprised when there is opposition to Christianity.
Because as humans our nature is to exclude God,
to live life without relying on God.
And so not only will we experience opposition with others.
We will also experience that in ourselves.
There will be conflict between what we want
and how we believe things should be
between what God desires and how He sees life.
Ever had the situation when you have had a disagreement with someone
or you have done something that someone else doesn’t agree with
or they have done something you don’t agree with.
And what happens?
They seem to avoid you or you hope you don’t bump into them.
That is exactly how we react on some issues with God.
At times we avoid God speaking to us on some issues instead we try to make excuses of why we don’t have to listen to God.
Fortunately though Christ is in us
and has been influencing us so it is not on every issue.
I want you to look at your life for a moment….
On what issues and values are you consistent with God
What issues and values in your life are consistent with the Ten Commandments,
Where are you consistent with Jesus’ instruction to make disciples
And Jesus’ instruction to love God and love others.
This is where Christ is ruling in your life.
This is where you have peace with God.
But just as importantly what issues and values are you not so consistent with God.
What issues and values in your life clash with the Ten Commandments,
Where are you clashing with Jesus’ instruction to make disciples,
And Jesus’ instruction to love God and love others.
This is not just where the world is ruling your life but also where Satan is ruling your life.
And when this occurs there is no peace with God.
In Romans 12 verse 2 we hear
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our problem is that at times we are tempted to choose the world’s approach to peace, rather than God’s.
And when we do this the result is we will not have complete peace in our lives.
Our peace will be short lived.
The fact is we need Jesus to create that peace.
Like the Jews we too are waiting for the Messiah.
But unlike the Jews we are not waiting for the Messiah to come the first time.
He has already come and hung on the cross for you and me so that peace with God is possible for you and me.
But we are waiting for his return so we can experience and live a life of total peace.
The sign for the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah
was the peace bringer
was Jesus riding on a donkey that had never been ridden.
Now there were two ways for kings and leaders to ride into town.
One was on a big horse.
Emphasising I am in charge here, if you don’t like it stiff.
The other was on a donkey,
which highlighted that the leader came to bring peace.
And around 500 to 800 years before hand the prophet Zechariah announced that this was the type of leader Jesus would be.
Listen to Zechariah 9:9-10
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
So no wonder they were enthusiastically shouting,
Hosanna which literally means Save us!!
They could see that the peace provider was in town.
Like wise for us to recognise God’s peace
We need not to rely on just how we feel peace should look like or occur.
But the scriptures.
What God says about peace.
Because as we have already mentioned,
On some matters we are at peace with God.
But on others for true peace to be in our lives there maybe some conflict.
As we open up scripture God confronts us,
about who we are really following.
Ever had those times when you read a passage of scripture and thought bang….God must have been watching over my shoulder and seen what I had been up to…
And God also will confront us as we mingle with each other
He is both welcoming us,
but also confronting us about who we are really following.
And as we read scripture, worship together and have fellowship together we will discover that peace comes in the person of Jesus.
Not only does God confront us with our problems, sin.
He also confronts our problems, our sin
in the person of Jesus.
That is the way he brings peace to our lives.
God doesn’t just say you are sinner in this or that area of your life.
Now fix yourself up.
He helps you identify your problems.
And he also gives you solutions to your problems.
For a number of years I had a phobia of going to the doctor.
I would walk in.
And no matter what I had come for.
The doctor would say I was too fat.
And that is true…but at times that is all he said.
Now that doesn’t help when you have a cold or flu for two weeks straight
and you want some help with that.
But when doctors not only identify our problems but also offer a solution to them then a feeling of easiness comes to our lives because they care.
And God is not only on about highlighting our problems, but also giving us a solution
And this occurs in two ways….
God’s solutions help us deal with specific sins and problems of our lives now.
Now this may take time.
And the end result of this is that when God helps us with specific sins, our relationships others improve.
But more importantly God gives us the solution to deal with the problem that sins create between us and Him.
God takes the initiative to create a solution so we can have peace with Him.
And that solution is Jesus Christ.
Jesus on the back of the donkey into Jerusalem was the beginning of the final leg of the journey for that solution.
Jesus was about to do something radical for a leader.
He was about to give up his life so His followers.
So that you and me could have life.
Listen again to how Paul explains this to the church in Ephesus
This time I am reading from the NLT bible, Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Now how many leaders do you know who would do that.
Would give up something so others could benefit.
How many leaders do you know would give up their life so others could have peace.
That is what Jesus did for you.
This is the story of Easter.
God creating peace between you and me.
God creating peace between you and Him.
God’s peace is about first of all us being in peace with God.
And this is only possible if Jesus is our leader.
That we rely on Him to remove the power that sin has.
And secondly peace comes to us and through us by us following Jesus and His commandments
of loving God and loving others
and of making disciples.
This is what ultimately brings peace
And when we have this peace we can deal with the other troubles in the world.
There is a marvellous picture of a new born chick in a nest.
Looking very content with its mum.
But as you pan out from the nest you see all around it is chaos and danger.
The branch which the nest sits is limp.
There is lightening.
The branch is part way down a cliff…and at the top of the cliff is howling animals
But the chick is at peace tucked under its mother’s wings.
Likewise we gain peace by relying on Jesus.
And when we do the rest of life is put into perspective and no matter what is occurring around us Jesus is giving us peace.
AMEN
(What no one? I thought there would be one or two)
Most people desire peace.
Having God’s peace in our hearts is something God wants all of us to have.
Listen to Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
In other words peace should dominate our lives.
Peace should dominate the way you live.
And so what is your image of peace?
Close your eyes for a moment.
And think about what is peaceful for you.
Maybe it is a beach with a moderate temperature with the waves gently rolling in.
Sun not too hot and the wind not too cold.
Perhaps it is a quiet bush walk.
Or time alone in front of a log fire with a warm coffee and a good book and calming music.
Or knowing exactly what is going to happen next.
Maybe it is simply no conflict.
What else are you thinking about?
Now these are all great images of peace.
And when we experience them we should thank God for those experiences.
It is God who gives us everything good in our lives.
But when the scriptures talks about peace
When God talks about bringing peace that is not what He is referring to.
In John 14 verse 27 Jesus says very clearly to us
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Today’s readings give us an insight to what God is talking about when he is talking about peace.
Imagine being part of a group of people who are oppressed.
Who are on the outer.
A bit like a Collingwood Football Club supporter.
People who have a foreign ruler,
with strange ideas and understanding of life.
Some of which conflict to your own values.
That is the situation the Jews of Jesus time and many years before were facing.
The Romans are ruling them.
The Roman leaders expect to be seen and treated as gods.
They live and encourage living that is not only in conflict to God’s approach to life, but is even offensive.
They have little respect for the God of the Jews.
So no wonder the Jewish people had been holding out for a leader to put them in power.
They are waiting for a Messiah.
Someone to save them.
Someone to take them from being oppressed to being respected.
Ever felt like that?
Ever felt oppressed or slightly on the outer.
As Christians we should.
In 1 Peter 2 verse 11 we are reminded that we are foreigners and strangers in this world.
Thing will constantly pop up that are not consistent with the Christian life.
And when God’s values conflict with how society believes things to be then we are being oppressed.
When you feel you can’t mention God in certain situations then you are being oppressed.
In some circles this is changing…
Some major surveys show many young people are open to talking about and exploring Jesus and spirituality.
But they also have conditions.
In short this means in our discussions with people under 45, we need to focus on Jesus.
As Christians though we should not be surprised when there is opposition to Christianity.
Because as humans our nature is to exclude God,
to live life without relying on God.
And so not only will we experience opposition with others.
We will also experience that in ourselves.
There will be conflict between what we want
and how we believe things should be
between what God desires and how He sees life.
Ever had the situation when you have had a disagreement with someone
or you have done something that someone else doesn’t agree with
or they have done something you don’t agree with.
And what happens?
They seem to avoid you or you hope you don’t bump into them.
That is exactly how we react on some issues with God.
At times we avoid God speaking to us on some issues instead we try to make excuses of why we don’t have to listen to God.
Fortunately though Christ is in us
and has been influencing us so it is not on every issue.
I want you to look at your life for a moment….
On what issues and values are you consistent with God
What issues and values in your life are consistent with the Ten Commandments,
Where are you consistent with Jesus’ instruction to make disciples
And Jesus’ instruction to love God and love others.
This is where Christ is ruling in your life.
This is where you have peace with God.
But just as importantly what issues and values are you not so consistent with God.
What issues and values in your life clash with the Ten Commandments,
Where are you clashing with Jesus’ instruction to make disciples,
And Jesus’ instruction to love God and love others.
This is not just where the world is ruling your life but also where Satan is ruling your life.
And when this occurs there is no peace with God.
In Romans 12 verse 2 we hear
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our problem is that at times we are tempted to choose the world’s approach to peace, rather than God’s.
And when we do this the result is we will not have complete peace in our lives.
Our peace will be short lived.
The fact is we need Jesus to create that peace.
Like the Jews we too are waiting for the Messiah.
But unlike the Jews we are not waiting for the Messiah to come the first time.
He has already come and hung on the cross for you and me so that peace with God is possible for you and me.
But we are waiting for his return so we can experience and live a life of total peace.
The sign for the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah
was the peace bringer
was Jesus riding on a donkey that had never been ridden.
Now there were two ways for kings and leaders to ride into town.
One was on a big horse.
Emphasising I am in charge here, if you don’t like it stiff.
The other was on a donkey,
which highlighted that the leader came to bring peace.
And around 500 to 800 years before hand the prophet Zechariah announced that this was the type of leader Jesus would be.
Listen to Zechariah 9:9-10
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
So no wonder they were enthusiastically shouting,
Hosanna which literally means Save us!!
They could see that the peace provider was in town.
Like wise for us to recognise God’s peace
We need not to rely on just how we feel peace should look like or occur.
But the scriptures.
What God says about peace.
Because as we have already mentioned,
On some matters we are at peace with God.
But on others for true peace to be in our lives there maybe some conflict.
As we open up scripture God confronts us,
about who we are really following.
Ever had those times when you read a passage of scripture and thought bang….God must have been watching over my shoulder and seen what I had been up to…
And God also will confront us as we mingle with each other
He is both welcoming us,
but also confronting us about who we are really following.
And as we read scripture, worship together and have fellowship together we will discover that peace comes in the person of Jesus.
Not only does God confront us with our problems, sin.
He also confronts our problems, our sin
in the person of Jesus.
That is the way he brings peace to our lives.
God doesn’t just say you are sinner in this or that area of your life.
Now fix yourself up.
He helps you identify your problems.
And he also gives you solutions to your problems.
For a number of years I had a phobia of going to the doctor.
I would walk in.
And no matter what I had come for.
The doctor would say I was too fat.
And that is true…but at times that is all he said.
Now that doesn’t help when you have a cold or flu for two weeks straight
and you want some help with that.
But when doctors not only identify our problems but also offer a solution to them then a feeling of easiness comes to our lives because they care.
And God is not only on about highlighting our problems, but also giving us a solution
And this occurs in two ways….
God’s solutions help us deal with specific sins and problems of our lives now.
Now this may take time.
And the end result of this is that when God helps us with specific sins, our relationships others improve.
But more importantly God gives us the solution to deal with the problem that sins create between us and Him.
God takes the initiative to create a solution so we can have peace with Him.
And that solution is Jesus Christ.
Jesus on the back of the donkey into Jerusalem was the beginning of the final leg of the journey for that solution.
Jesus was about to do something radical for a leader.
He was about to give up his life so His followers.
So that you and me could have life.
Listen again to how Paul explains this to the church in Ephesus
This time I am reading from the NLT bible, Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Now how many leaders do you know who would do that.
Would give up something so others could benefit.
How many leaders do you know would give up their life so others could have peace.
That is what Jesus did for you.
This is the story of Easter.
God creating peace between you and me.
God creating peace between you and Him.
God’s peace is about first of all us being in peace with God.
And this is only possible if Jesus is our leader.
That we rely on Him to remove the power that sin has.
And secondly peace comes to us and through us by us following Jesus and His commandments
of loving God and loving others
and of making disciples.
This is what ultimately brings peace
And when we have this peace we can deal with the other troubles in the world.
There is a marvellous picture of a new born chick in a nest.
Looking very content with its mum.
But as you pan out from the nest you see all around it is chaos and danger.
The branch which the nest sits is limp.
There is lightening.
The branch is part way down a cliff…and at the top of the cliff is howling animals
But the chick is at peace tucked under its mother’s wings.
Likewise we gain peace by relying on Jesus.
And when we do the rest of life is put into perspective and no matter what is occurring around us Jesus is giving us peace.
AMEN
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Lenten Sermon Matthew 27:32-44 Loving through suffering
Have you ever said if I was God I would….
If I was God there would be no weeds in my garden.
If I was God no one bad would get good things.
What would you do if you were God?
What about if you were in the situation that Jesus faced in the reading from Matthew what would you have done?
If you were being insulted…
If you were being beaten…
If you were being mocked
Or unfairly punished…
What would you have done?
Would you seek revenge?
Pray that your attackers who hurt you would be hurt.
Say one day…you wait just one day…you will get your just deserts….
Our natural instinct is to exert the power we have.
To show people we are good and that we have it together.
If I say to my son Zackary, don’t climb on the fence because you may get hurt.
He will climb on the fence and say see I didn’t get hurt.
Interestingly Jesus didn’t exert the power he had
Instead when he was suffering he took it all.
And sometimes I wonder why?
Why did he bother?
Have you ever been in that situation where people ask you why?
Why do you put yourself through this or that difficulty?
There are many personalities who will reveal stories of pain and suffering.
They will boast about the hard yards they have put in.
Their early mornings.
Their long hours.
How their family suffered.
The difficulties they have faced.
So that they can achieve their goals, obtain some greatness…
And that is why they suffer!!!
What about you what are some of the sufferings you are going through now.
Maybe some of them are because you have goals.
Perhaps some of them aren’t.
Do you know why you are enduring them?
Maybe you are even suffering as a Christian…
Some of your family doesn’t take you seriously.
You are scared to be open with some of your friends…
You cry for your children.
You may even feel deprived…
But what happens if we used the suffering we experience as an opportunity…
An opportunity to live as God calls us to live…
To love through suffering…
I invite you to listen to a story as told by Robyn Claydon in one of her books Doors are for walking through…
Last year I met a Christian women from a Middle Eastern country which is entirely closed to Christian witness. Those who are known to be Christian are imprisoned or worse assassinated. She told me that she and her husband had been holding a very small house church in their home for some months. A few friends visited once a week and over a meal believers read the scriptures and encouraged each other.
One day, the authorities came to the door and arrested the woman and her husband putting them in prison. I met her just a few weeks after they had been released. In prison they were the object of great curiosity from the other prisoners. They were asked “Why are you in prison?”
“Because we are Christians.”
“Why are you imprisoned for that?”
“Because we were meeting with a small groups of friends to read the Bible.”
“Tell us about the Bible.” They asked.
The women told me that in prison she and her husband had more opportunities to talk about Jesus than they ever had when they were free. Not only did the prisoners ask questions, but the guards too would stand on the edge of the room and listen.
When their sentence expired and they were told to leave, the guards said,
“We’ve enjoyed having you here in prison. Please come back again!” My friends said to me with a smile, “we probably will be back there soon. We are about to start up our little house church again and we will probably be arrested and imprisoned. But even, if we don’t end up in prison, we have an open invitation to go back and visit!”(Doors are for walking through by Robyn Claydon, page 54 available at http://www.spcka.org.au/PublishingList2007.pdf)
When you are suffering maybe it is worthwhile asking how can I love through this suffering.
For Jesus accepting suffering was not because he felt helpless.
But taking the insults he knew he was one step closer to securing what He was sent to earth for.
Securing your future….
Every time you see the cross.
That is a sign of how Jesus secured your future.
And in securing a future in this way God also knows what we experience.
We can be assure we have a God who knows not only about suffering…but actually knows suffering…
Knows what it is like when we suffer.
John Stott a well respected author and theologian makes the following observations in his book the Cross of the Christ
In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time, after awhile I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wretched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. ……There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in such a world" as ours.
So as we prepare for Easter
As you live your life….
Maybe we don’t’ ask how can we avoid suffering?
But what suffering is needed to help others to know the love of Jesus….
And how can we love through our suffering.
Because it is through suffering that Christ loved us.
Amen
If I was God there would be no weeds in my garden.
If I was God no one bad would get good things.
What would you do if you were God?
What about if you were in the situation that Jesus faced in the reading from Matthew what would you have done?
If you were being insulted…
If you were being beaten…
If you were being mocked
Or unfairly punished…
What would you have done?
Would you seek revenge?
Pray that your attackers who hurt you would be hurt.
Say one day…you wait just one day…you will get your just deserts….
Our natural instinct is to exert the power we have.
To show people we are good and that we have it together.
If I say to my son Zackary, don’t climb on the fence because you may get hurt.
He will climb on the fence and say see I didn’t get hurt.
Interestingly Jesus didn’t exert the power he had
Instead when he was suffering he took it all.
And sometimes I wonder why?
Why did he bother?
Have you ever been in that situation where people ask you why?
Why do you put yourself through this or that difficulty?
There are many personalities who will reveal stories of pain and suffering.
They will boast about the hard yards they have put in.
Their early mornings.
Their long hours.
How their family suffered.
The difficulties they have faced.
So that they can achieve their goals, obtain some greatness…
And that is why they suffer!!!
What about you what are some of the sufferings you are going through now.
Maybe some of them are because you have goals.
Perhaps some of them aren’t.
Do you know why you are enduring them?
Maybe you are even suffering as a Christian…
Some of your family doesn’t take you seriously.
You are scared to be open with some of your friends…
You cry for your children.
You may even feel deprived…
But what happens if we used the suffering we experience as an opportunity…
An opportunity to live as God calls us to live…
To love through suffering…
I invite you to listen to a story as told by Robyn Claydon in one of her books Doors are for walking through…
Last year I met a Christian women from a Middle Eastern country which is entirely closed to Christian witness. Those who are known to be Christian are imprisoned or worse assassinated. She told me that she and her husband had been holding a very small house church in their home for some months. A few friends visited once a week and over a meal believers read the scriptures and encouraged each other.
One day, the authorities came to the door and arrested the woman and her husband putting them in prison. I met her just a few weeks after they had been released. In prison they were the object of great curiosity from the other prisoners. They were asked “Why are you in prison?”
“Because we are Christians.”
“Why are you imprisoned for that?”
“Because we were meeting with a small groups of friends to read the Bible.”
“Tell us about the Bible.” They asked.
The women told me that in prison she and her husband had more opportunities to talk about Jesus than they ever had when they were free. Not only did the prisoners ask questions, but the guards too would stand on the edge of the room and listen.
When their sentence expired and they were told to leave, the guards said,
“We’ve enjoyed having you here in prison. Please come back again!” My friends said to me with a smile, “we probably will be back there soon. We are about to start up our little house church again and we will probably be arrested and imprisoned. But even, if we don’t end up in prison, we have an open invitation to go back and visit!”(Doors are for walking through by Robyn Claydon, page 54 available at http://www.spcka.org.au/PublishingList2007.pdf)
When you are suffering maybe it is worthwhile asking how can I love through this suffering.
For Jesus accepting suffering was not because he felt helpless.
But taking the insults he knew he was one step closer to securing what He was sent to earth for.
Securing your future….
Every time you see the cross.
That is a sign of how Jesus secured your future.
And in securing a future in this way God also knows what we experience.
We can be assure we have a God who knows not only about suffering…but actually knows suffering…
Knows what it is like when we suffer.
John Stott a well respected author and theologian makes the following observations in his book the Cross of the Christ
In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time, after awhile I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wretched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. ……There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in such a world" as ours.
So as we prepare for Easter
As you live your life….
Maybe we don’t’ ask how can we avoid suffering?
But what suffering is needed to help others to know the love of Jesus….
And how can we love through our suffering.
Because it is through suffering that Christ loved us.
Amen
Inspired thoughts: Grandparents a blessing and blessed
The aromas of freshly baked cakes, jubes, freshly brewed tea, fresh linen, mothballs or velvet soap bring forward memories of the times I spent with my grandparents. Even though they had some strange ideas I enjoyed spending time with them. I received treats and special treatment. However it wasn’t until many years later, when my parents became grandparents that I understood how helpful and valuable they are. They weren’t just old child minders, they were people who treasured us and had much to share with us.
Through their stories of life Grandparents often reveal to us a world we could ever imagine. Imagine life with no telephones, toilet paper, or a time when food was so scarce all you had was what you could grow or catch. These were some things I learnt from my grandparents. And through their stories they often pass on the important truths of life and faith, influencing the lives of the young. When St Paul was writing to a young pastor (see 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5) he reminded him that his sincere faith in Christ originated from his grandmother. Even today grandparents are consistently in the top 5 most influential people in people’s lives. What a valuable gift.
Grandparents not only give wonderful gifts but they also receive amazing blessings from God. Recently I visited a man who was over the moon, it was like he was in love again, and he was, with the great blessing of a grandchild. Psalm 128 verse 6 reminds us that seeing your children’s children is one of the best blessings you can receive. So if you have a grandparent remember you are one of God’s blessings to them.
On Friday join us for chapel as we celebrate grandparents day, if you know a grandparent whose grandchildren are far away why not bring them along. This is a great way to thank God for these important people in our lives.
Some things to think about or share as a family
What are some of your memories of your grandparents?
What are some important stories and things about God you have heard from your parents and grandparents?
How could we continue blessing our grandparents?
Something to remember
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isa. 46:4)
Through their stories of life Grandparents often reveal to us a world we could ever imagine. Imagine life with no telephones, toilet paper, or a time when food was so scarce all you had was what you could grow or catch. These were some things I learnt from my grandparents. And through their stories they often pass on the important truths of life and faith, influencing the lives of the young. When St Paul was writing to a young pastor (see 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5) he reminded him that his sincere faith in Christ originated from his grandmother. Even today grandparents are consistently in the top 5 most influential people in people’s lives. What a valuable gift.
Grandparents not only give wonderful gifts but they also receive amazing blessings from God. Recently I visited a man who was over the moon, it was like he was in love again, and he was, with the great blessing of a grandchild. Psalm 128 verse 6 reminds us that seeing your children’s children is one of the best blessings you can receive. So if you have a grandparent remember you are one of God’s blessings to them.
On Friday join us for chapel as we celebrate grandparents day, if you know a grandparent whose grandchildren are far away why not bring them along. This is a great way to thank God for these important people in our lives.
Some things to think about or share as a family
What are some of your memories of your grandparents?
What are some important stories and things about God you have heard from your parents and grandparents?
How could we continue blessing our grandparents?
Something to remember
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isa. 46:4)
Sermon: Lent 5 John 12:20-33 Letting go to receive
The sermon began with the following visual
“I have asked Andy Broom to help me with today’s sermon.”
Like every other journey we go on throughout our journey in life we pick up many packages and things.
We pick up:
The package of WHAT PEOPLE THINK & SAY ABOUT ME!!!
The package of WHAT I WANT!!!
The package of HOW I THINK THINGS SHOULD BE!!!!
A bucket load of HURTS!!!
The baggage of PRIDE!!!
A sack of WHAT makes me comfortable!!!
We pick up WHAT I BELIEVE I DESERVE!!!
A box of WHAT I HAVE DONE!!!
A bag of WHAT I OWN!!!
A box of WHAT I LIKE!!
And a basket of MY IMAGE
(for each of these was a package, box or bag that we loaded Andy up with, )
Not only do we pick these and other packages up we also hold tightly onto them.
Now in themselves most of the things we pick up are neither good nor bad,
Neither right or wrong until they get in the road of us having the life that God wants us to have.
Including getting into the road of us being fed.
At times they can make life uncomfortable and even prevent us from enjoying the life God wants us to have now and in the future.
Now Andy I would love to give you a beautiful brewed coffee.
And this is top coffee.
Maybe I could find a straw and see if we can get it through a hole in these packages, but it wouldn’t be that good
At times we often live life like that holding tightly onto everything and trying to also live the life God wants us to live.
Sometimes we will try to have both what God wants us to have and hold tightly onto the things we have picked up throughout life.
But I have an idea Andy.
How about I take some of these packages from you?
How about you drop the rest.
Really what is better is if we let go of things.
This includes handing things over to Jesus for him to deal with
And it includes dropping those things that hinder the life God so that we can be fed and take part of the life God would dearly love us to have.
Now Andy you can start enjoying your coffee
Now in today’s Gospel reading from John chapter 12 this is what Jesus was on about.
In John 12 verse 25 and 26 and Jesus says
25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
One of the biggest challenges in our lives is letting go of the things that hinder us in our relationship with God and each other.
Sometimes we may feel we have a right to hold onto some of the packages in life,
But in fact what is best is that we let go of them.
For around 10 years I had a deep heart for a couple of people.
I wouldn’t forgive them.
I wanted to sit on them big time.
Regularly I would think of ways of how to get revenge for the hurts they had inflicted on my family.
They had made us suffer.
I felt I deserved to feel this way and seek revenge.
Fortunately someone said to me Richard do you realize that they you holding you holding on to this is hurting you far more than it is hurting them.
They have probably even forgotten about the instance.
But you are holding onto it and it is affecting how you see them and the group of people they are part of
And you are not getting fully on with life.
Each of us have packages we need to drop or let go of so we can take advantage of the life God is giving us.
Now to understand this text a bit better we need to understand the situation Jesus was talking to…
At the start of our reading we hear
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
When Jesus says the man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life he is making this statement in reference to two groups of people.
Two groups of people who needed to let go of
how they believed God should act and be
and allow God to reveal to them how he acts.
One is the Pharisees.
These were people who had respect in the Jewish religious community.
They knew the Jewish Bible well, or at least they thought they did.
They thought they knew what God wants.
And they strongly encouraged people to have a good relationship with God.
However there was a problem.
They believed for anyone to have relationship with God they needed to be doing good things.
To them they were most concerned about keeping God’s laws above everything else.
It was important that they and others looked good.
And they enjoyed receiving praise for how good they were.
They believed they secured their future with God by doing the right things.
And so they were most concerned about telling other people what to do and most concerned that they at least looked like they were doing the right thing, by obeying the Mosiac Law and some other rituals.
They had no time for sinners, people who didn’t do the right thing.
However Jesus was highly critical of them.
Not because they did good, but they did it for the wrong reasons
and didn’t understand that you needed more than just doing good to obtain a place in heaven.
The arrival of Jesus had threatened their power.
Put it this way in a few weeks time we are about to commence confirmation.
If I was to tell the students that doing good is pointless for securing life with God.
I would not be surprised if at least one parent gets a little upset with me.
Why?
Because as parents we work so hard at getting our kids to do the right things
that we think they might believe they don’t have to do good at all.
For some reason some of them will hear they don’t have to do good, but seem to miss the last part for salvation.
This threatens us because most of our lives are centred around doing the right thing to obtain something.
And that is what Jesus was doing to the Pharisees.
To begin, have and secure a long term relationship with God Jesus did not demand that people be perfect and have it all together.
Rather that they trust Him to secure that relationship.
From John 14:6 we hear
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now it is also important to remember when it came to doing good,
Jesus didn’t discard the idea of doing good
But encouraged people to see doing good wasn’t about earning a relationship with God
but we do good because we have a relationship with God and to share that with others.
And so he threatened the Pharisees understanding of God, their understanding of doing good and their power in the community.
For the Pharisees to grasp who God was they needed to let go of their understanding of God and where doing good fits into the picture and how we obtain a relationship with God
and replace it with who God says he is
that we can only obtain a relationship with God by relying on Jesus
and that doing good is about reflecting God’s love in the world not obtaining God’s love.
Already I have seen numerous examples of people in our congregation of doing good to shine God’s love
Yesterday after men’s breakfast one of today’s sausage cookers said instead of the children having to come outside for sausages, how about I cook some sausages and take them to the children in the hall. That way they are safe and can enjoy things more.
The second group Jesus is addressing is the Greeks.
Now most scholars agree that this is not just a reference to those people from Greece.
But a reference to all non Jews.
They are attracted to Jesus because of the spectacular things he has been doing.
Jesus is the flavour of the month.
By this stage in his ministry already He has done many spectacular things
He has risen Lazarus from the dead.
He has healed people
He brings sight to the blind.
Likewise many people are attracted to Jesus because of what he can give them today, how he makes them feel today.
They were acknowledging Jesus as someone special, the Messiah because he was doing something spectacular, that looked.
What are some of the things that attract you to Jesus?
Is it just limited to what you can receive now, and what makes you feel good?
Maybe its peace, maybe it’s a feeling, perhaps it is a special gift, maybe its healing.
Now these things are good and they can come from God.
They are helpful but remember they are not essential.
Nor will they always occur in the way we expect.
But they are not a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is the Messiah,
the one who will give us eternal life.
From Mark 13:22 we hear
22 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
In today’s reading Jesus highlights that there is something that is a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is truly God and the Messiah
Listen again to verses 31 to 33
31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
For Jesus glory is not about being acknowledged for healing people, for raising people from the dead or doing anything else that appears spectacular.
It is about listening to His Father, and dieing.
Because it is through His death and His resurrection that me and you receive life.
From 1 Peter 3:18 we hear,
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
This is the most important thing that Jesus did for you…
He died for you so that you may have life.
Instead of doing what He wanted, He did what was needed for me and you to have life.
Occasionally you may hear from time to time the term theology of the cross.
This is what is being referred to.
That through the cross we truly see who God is.
God who is prepared to suffer for you.
A father who was willing to give up his son.
A Son who was willing to give up his life.
Not for His benefit but for your benefit.
So that you can have life with Him.
Maybe that is the package at times me and you need to put down.
That we let go of demanding God doing the stuff we want
that addresses our immediate desires.
Instead we pick up God’s package that He has a long term future planned for us secured by His suffering on the cross.
For centuries this has influenced people.
Resulting in Christians letting go of their own motives
and instead serving God even though it resulted in suffering.
Some of you may have heard of a character called Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
There are many stories about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He was a pastor in the church in Germany during World War 2, when Hitler was in power.
He opposed Hitler.
He had escaped to the USA just after the war started.
However God spoke to him and encouraged him to return to Germany.
God used him to continue encouraging people in the true faith of God and opposing Adolf Hitler’s armies attacks on any one who opposed him.
This cost him his life.
Now he could have stayed in USA where he would have been safe.
However he listened to God so others could benefit.
This week I week I encourage you to reflect on:
What packages are you carrying around that you need to drop or hand over to God?
Ask also are you telling God how and what he should be doing or are you listening to God through His bible to discover who He is and how He acts? (If you are not already reading the bible daily you will find a daily reading plan on page 2 of our bulletin.)
Also thing about How does God dieing on the cross for you affect your life now and in the future?
Remember God promises you life…are you going to grab hold of it.
Let us pray.
AMEN
“I have asked Andy Broom to help me with today’s sermon.”
Like every other journey we go on throughout our journey in life we pick up many packages and things.
We pick up:
The package of WHAT PEOPLE THINK & SAY ABOUT ME!!!
The package of WHAT I WANT!!!
The package of HOW I THINK THINGS SHOULD BE!!!!
A bucket load of HURTS!!!
The baggage of PRIDE!!!
A sack of WHAT makes me comfortable!!!
We pick up WHAT I BELIEVE I DESERVE!!!
A box of WHAT I HAVE DONE!!!
A bag of WHAT I OWN!!!
A box of WHAT I LIKE!!
And a basket of MY IMAGE
(for each of these was a package, box or bag that we loaded Andy up with, )
Not only do we pick these and other packages up we also hold tightly onto them.
Now in themselves most of the things we pick up are neither good nor bad,
Neither right or wrong until they get in the road of us having the life that God wants us to have.
Including getting into the road of us being fed.
At times they can make life uncomfortable and even prevent us from enjoying the life God wants us to have now and in the future.
Now Andy I would love to give you a beautiful brewed coffee.
And this is top coffee.
Maybe I could find a straw and see if we can get it through a hole in these packages, but it wouldn’t be that good
At times we often live life like that holding tightly onto everything and trying to also live the life God wants us to live.
Sometimes we will try to have both what God wants us to have and hold tightly onto the things we have picked up throughout life.
But I have an idea Andy.
How about I take some of these packages from you?
How about you drop the rest.
Really what is better is if we let go of things.
This includes handing things over to Jesus for him to deal with
And it includes dropping those things that hinder the life God so that we can be fed and take part of the life God would dearly love us to have.
Now Andy you can start enjoying your coffee
Now in today’s Gospel reading from John chapter 12 this is what Jesus was on about.
In John 12 verse 25 and 26 and Jesus says
25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
One of the biggest challenges in our lives is letting go of the things that hinder us in our relationship with God and each other.
Sometimes we may feel we have a right to hold onto some of the packages in life,
But in fact what is best is that we let go of them.
For around 10 years I had a deep heart for a couple of people.
I wouldn’t forgive them.
I wanted to sit on them big time.
Regularly I would think of ways of how to get revenge for the hurts they had inflicted on my family.
They had made us suffer.
I felt I deserved to feel this way and seek revenge.
Fortunately someone said to me Richard do you realize that they you holding you holding on to this is hurting you far more than it is hurting them.
They have probably even forgotten about the instance.
But you are holding onto it and it is affecting how you see them and the group of people they are part of
And you are not getting fully on with life.
Each of us have packages we need to drop or let go of so we can take advantage of the life God is giving us.
Now to understand this text a bit better we need to understand the situation Jesus was talking to…
At the start of our reading we hear
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
When Jesus says the man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life he is making this statement in reference to two groups of people.
Two groups of people who needed to let go of
how they believed God should act and be
and allow God to reveal to them how he acts.
One is the Pharisees.
These were people who had respect in the Jewish religious community.
They knew the Jewish Bible well, or at least they thought they did.
They thought they knew what God wants.
And they strongly encouraged people to have a good relationship with God.
However there was a problem.
They believed for anyone to have relationship with God they needed to be doing good things.
To them they were most concerned about keeping God’s laws above everything else.
It was important that they and others looked good.
And they enjoyed receiving praise for how good they were.
They believed they secured their future with God by doing the right things.
And so they were most concerned about telling other people what to do and most concerned that they at least looked like they were doing the right thing, by obeying the Mosiac Law and some other rituals.
They had no time for sinners, people who didn’t do the right thing.
However Jesus was highly critical of them.
Not because they did good, but they did it for the wrong reasons
and didn’t understand that you needed more than just doing good to obtain a place in heaven.
The arrival of Jesus had threatened their power.
Put it this way in a few weeks time we are about to commence confirmation.
If I was to tell the students that doing good is pointless for securing life with God.
I would not be surprised if at least one parent gets a little upset with me.
Why?
Because as parents we work so hard at getting our kids to do the right things
that we think they might believe they don’t have to do good at all.
For some reason some of them will hear they don’t have to do good, but seem to miss the last part for salvation.
This threatens us because most of our lives are centred around doing the right thing to obtain something.
And that is what Jesus was doing to the Pharisees.
To begin, have and secure a long term relationship with God Jesus did not demand that people be perfect and have it all together.
Rather that they trust Him to secure that relationship.
From John 14:6 we hear
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now it is also important to remember when it came to doing good,
Jesus didn’t discard the idea of doing good
But encouraged people to see doing good wasn’t about earning a relationship with God
but we do good because we have a relationship with God and to share that with others.
And so he threatened the Pharisees understanding of God, their understanding of doing good and their power in the community.
For the Pharisees to grasp who God was they needed to let go of their understanding of God and where doing good fits into the picture and how we obtain a relationship with God
and replace it with who God says he is
that we can only obtain a relationship with God by relying on Jesus
and that doing good is about reflecting God’s love in the world not obtaining God’s love.
Already I have seen numerous examples of people in our congregation of doing good to shine God’s love
Yesterday after men’s breakfast one of today’s sausage cookers said instead of the children having to come outside for sausages, how about I cook some sausages and take them to the children in the hall. That way they are safe and can enjoy things more.
The second group Jesus is addressing is the Greeks.
Now most scholars agree that this is not just a reference to those people from Greece.
But a reference to all non Jews.
They are attracted to Jesus because of the spectacular things he has been doing.
Jesus is the flavour of the month.
By this stage in his ministry already He has done many spectacular things
He has risen Lazarus from the dead.
He has healed people
He brings sight to the blind.
Likewise many people are attracted to Jesus because of what he can give them today, how he makes them feel today.
They were acknowledging Jesus as someone special, the Messiah because he was doing something spectacular, that looked.
What are some of the things that attract you to Jesus?
Is it just limited to what you can receive now, and what makes you feel good?
Maybe its peace, maybe it’s a feeling, perhaps it is a special gift, maybe its healing.
Now these things are good and they can come from God.
They are helpful but remember they are not essential.
Nor will they always occur in the way we expect.
But they are not a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is the Messiah,
the one who will give us eternal life.
From Mark 13:22 we hear
22 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
In today’s reading Jesus highlights that there is something that is a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is truly God and the Messiah
Listen again to verses 31 to 33
31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
For Jesus glory is not about being acknowledged for healing people, for raising people from the dead or doing anything else that appears spectacular.
It is about listening to His Father, and dieing.
Because it is through His death and His resurrection that me and you receive life.
From 1 Peter 3:18 we hear,
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
This is the most important thing that Jesus did for you…
He died for you so that you may have life.
Instead of doing what He wanted, He did what was needed for me and you to have life.
Occasionally you may hear from time to time the term theology of the cross.
This is what is being referred to.
That through the cross we truly see who God is.
God who is prepared to suffer for you.
A father who was willing to give up his son.
A Son who was willing to give up his life.
Not for His benefit but for your benefit.
So that you can have life with Him.
Maybe that is the package at times me and you need to put down.
That we let go of demanding God doing the stuff we want
that addresses our immediate desires.
Instead we pick up God’s package that He has a long term future planned for us secured by His suffering on the cross.
For centuries this has influenced people.
Resulting in Christians letting go of their own motives
and instead serving God even though it resulted in suffering.
Some of you may have heard of a character called Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
There are many stories about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He was a pastor in the church in Germany during World War 2, when Hitler was in power.
He opposed Hitler.
He had escaped to the USA just after the war started.
However God spoke to him and encouraged him to return to Germany.
God used him to continue encouraging people in the true faith of God and opposing Adolf Hitler’s armies attacks on any one who opposed him.
This cost him his life.
Now he could have stayed in USA where he would have been safe.
However he listened to God so others could benefit.
This week I week I encourage you to reflect on:
What packages are you carrying around that you need to drop or hand over to God?
Ask also are you telling God how and what he should be doing or are you listening to God through His bible to discover who He is and how He acts? (If you are not already reading the bible daily you will find a daily reading plan on page 2 of our bulletin.)
Also thing about How does God dieing on the cross for you affect your life now and in the future?
Remember God promises you life…are you going to grab hold of it.
Let us pray.
AMEN
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